Where we started ...

HISTORY OF ST. MARK PARISH AND SCHOOL

A Catholic Northwest Progress announcement appeared on February 5, 1954 that the Most Reverend Archbishop Connolly would be establishing a new parish to address the growing population north of the Seattle city limits. The new parish would be named for the evangelist St. Mark. With this announcement came the appointment of Reverend Father Theodore Sullivan as the first pastor of St. Mark Parish.

Within the first week, Fr. Sullivan moved into a wing of the brick building that originally served as a studio for radio station KJR. News that Mass was to be offered spread quickly through the community, and fifty-seven adults and twenty children were in attendance on that first Sunday, with Mass held in the large main room of the studio. Before the end of February 1954, three Masses were being offered every Sunday.

Within 18 months, Fr. Sullivan built a church, school, rectory and convent.

St. Mark Parish School opened on September 6, 1955 and was staffed by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, an order founded in 1804 by Blessed Julie Billiart in Namur, Belgium (devoted to the Christian education of girls, particularly for the poor). The charism of the order has always been to make God's goodness known.

A new church building was completed in 1970, and the first church is now used as the parish social hall and gym. Later changes to the parish plant include the expansion of the rectory and the addition of one portable in 1998, which houses the library and computer lab.

St. Mark Parish School continues in the tradition of the establishing Sisters of Notre Dame, by offering an affordable and excellent Catholic education. 

St. Mark students are encouraged to become Christ centered individuals who know, understand, believe, and live their Catholic faith.

From these humble beginnings, our parish now serves 1,000 families and offers four Masses on the weekend. School enrollment is approximately 135 students in grades Preschool, Kindergarten, and 1st through 8th.